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Travel bucket list idea:

Last updated: 05 April, 2024
Expert travel writer: Alex Robinson

Samba, Brazilian football, Rio funk and carnival were all born in Rio’s vibrant favelas. These marginalised, poor slums are as much a part of Rio – and the Rio experience – as the beaches or nightlife, and tours now take you inside – not only to see what life is like for residents, but to lay bare one of the most artistically vibrant and alternative communities in Latin America.

It’s an edgy, culturally intriguing and slightly nerve-racking experience – but one that shows how much Rio is indebted to these tightly-knit communities.

Logistics

Price from: £25
Minimum age: Any
Age suitable: 13+
When: All year around

Getting there & doing it

Tours take from three to four hours and most visits involve a stop in a bar or restaurant within the favela. Remember, Rio’s favelas have some of the highest crime rates in the world; always take a tour, and never enter alone or with someone you don’t know.

Avoid booking a distasteful poverty safari by choosing an operator that reinvests a percentage of its profits in community projects.

When to do it

Tours run all year round, seven days a week. Remember, after dark, favelas are dangerous, when most illicit activity takes place.

Who to go with: organised tours

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Our selection of the best Viator tours of this attraction or activity

Favela Tours

Rio de Janeiro

Favela Tours
Feel what life in a Favela is like. We take you to the top of the Rocinha Favela or Tavares Bastos and then descend on foot. On the way down, you get a unique insight into the vibrant spirit of the people, especially the kids. Discover what life is like inside the Favela. We take you to the highest part and then we walk down the small streets, where you can see everything very close.

Price: $36

Min age: 0

Rating 4.84 / 5 [629 ratings]

Tour supplied by:

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3 Hour Rocinha Favela Walking Tour with a Local Guide

Rio de Janeiro

3 Hour Rocinha Favela Walking Tour with a Local Guide
Visiting the Rocinha favela, one of Rio's hundreds of "favelas" (the Brazilian term for a slum or shantytown) and the largest in the country, is a local experience that gives you the chance to see Brazil from another point of view. With a resident guide, take a non-intrusive walking tour to learn about daily life in the favela and gain insight into the challenges these communities face. When your tour is finished our driver will be heading back to Copacabana neighborhood crossing the beaches of Leblon and Ipanema, therefore you must inform our tour guide where you are staying so we can make sure you are dropped off as close as possible to your hotel. Duration of our tour including pickup and drop off is around 3 hours.

Price: R180

Min age: 1

Rating 4.73 / 5 [541 ratings]

Tour supplied by:

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Favela Tour Rocinha and Vila Canoas in Rio de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro

Favela Tour Rocinha and Vila Canoas in Rio de Janeiro
FAVELA TOUR is indispensable if you look for a deeper perspective of many aspects of Brazil`s complex socioeconomic structure. Tour integrates visitors and locals revealing a new angle of favelas and its people, changing their reputation of exclusion only. You will go to Rocinha, largest favela in Brazil, and Vila Canoas, both nearby São Conrado area. From there you also get to see impressive panoramic views over Rio. We walk you through both residential and commercial area and you may also purchase nice handcrafts, if you wish. We will also lead you to a local school financed by FAVELA TOUR, and show other local community projects. Favelas are safer than most people believe, but no matter how adventurer you are, go to a favela with an organized tour. We are the pioneer of social tours to favelas since early 1992. If you really want to understand Brazil better, don´t leave Rio missing the FAVELA TOUR. We do not offer tours on sunday PM. Tours need minimum quorun to go.

Price: $32

Min age: 12

Rating 4.64 / 5 [323 ratings]

Tour supplied by:

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Favela Tour Rio de Janeiro - Vidigal Walking Tour by Russo Guide

Rio de Janeiro

Favela Tour Rio de Janeiro - Vidigal Walking Tour by Russo Guide
Have a real experience of what the Favela was like and today! Russo Guia, has been working for 20 years within Vidigal, 17 years in a small local business, and for over 2 as a guide. With it you will have an experience that only a resident can provide, besides valuing the local culture, Qualification, took a local Guide training course by INADH, National Institute of Human Development .Currently taking another Protur Tourism Guide Course, knows and is well known within Vidigal Script: - Sitiê Ecological Park, former dump and today a place for environmental education and vegetable garden! - Vidigal Olympic Village and graffiti court from above! - Arvrão: place with the best panoramic view and the famous bars Bar da Laje, Mirante do Arvrão and Alto Vidigal - Pope's Chapel: place visited by Pope John Paul II in 1980! - Arts shortcut: graffiti wall (Graffiti by local artist @ tarm1 on instagran and other outside artists!)

Price: R150

Min age: 6

Rating 4.97 / 5 [207 ratings]

Tour supplied by:

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Favela Santa Marta Tour

Rio de Janeiro

Favela Santa Marta Tour
The Local Guide gives more authenticity to the tour, showing that the biggest motivation for favela tourism is the opportunity to share ways of life, life experiences and no one can provide a truer experience than someone who lives in the favela together with your work team.

Price: $31

Min age: 1

Rating 4.88 / 5 [149 ratings]

Tour supplied by:

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Destination guides

1

Destination guides including or relevant to this experience

Rio de Janeiro

Southeastern Region, Brazil

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